Algae in the Water Garden

Algae in the Water Garden

Your water garden is going to be home to many different plants, fish, and tiny creatures that you might not even realize are there. Your water garden is going to revolve all around the water and caring for the water quality, the clarity of the water is important for the life long gardening in the water garden. Algae in the water garden can hurt your plants or fish, depending on the extent of that it is growing.

Your plants are going to be an important function in cleaning the water and controlling the amount of algae that is growing in the water garden. If you are starting a water garden with out plants at all your water is going to turn cloudy, dark and green with the build up of algae in the water.

There are many ‘ingredients’, elements that make up algae but the two main elements of algae are salt and nitrates. When both salt and nitrates build up in the water after long periods of time, the end result is that algae will grow. The number one way to clear out the water is to use plants, submerged or partially submerged plants are going to help your water stay clean from the green algae.

If you have plants growing in your water garden, but you still have algae growing, you may have too many fish. Having a balanced ratio of fish and plants results in a clear water garden. The water garden that is polluted with fish waste will grow algae quickly as the water gets overloaded. Another thing you might want to look at if you are sure that you have a few fish, a good number of fish, is the amount of feed that you are giving your fish. Some fish will tend to eat and eat, and then they produce to much waste that the plants cannot absorb and cleanse fast enough.

One last reason that algae will grow in the water garden is because there is lots of debris in the bottom of the water garden. Take for example, a large log rolled into the water garden, a pile of leaves, or even an animal got stuck in the bottom of the pond and is decaying, these are all reasons for algae to grow.

Cleaning your water garden with a filter, with plants, and by scooping out the debris in the water is going to keep algae growth to a minimum. Happy water gardening!